Carriage-charges saving for ex-HND retailers

Retailers who sell their home news delivery (HND) rounds will now see their carriage charges adjusted immediately, thanks to assurances received by the Fed. Better Retailing understands news wholesalers were asked for support on the issue in a recent meeting with the Fed.

The discussion followed instances where the sale of a newspaper delivery business has reduced a member’s weekly news bill significantly, result­ing in the store’s carriage charges being higher than the terms laid out by both wholesalers.

The news wholesal­ers were praised by the Fed for their response. The trade body reassured retailers that when this occurs, carriage charges will now be revaluated several weeks after the change.

‘Only fair’

Commenting on the promise, Brian Murphy, news and operations director at the Fed, told Better Retailing: “The carriage charges stores pay should always be in line with their news bill. When London news bills increased last year due to increased volumes of News UK titles, stores saw a near-immediate up-rating in their carriage charges.

Read more news on The Fed

“It’s only fair that when volumes go down signifi­cantly, carriage charges are amended with the same speed. In recent meetings, the Fed is delighted to have received assurances from news wholesalers that this will now be the case when a retailer chooses to exit or sell their HND service.”

Who will benefit?

The agreement will bring the largest benefit to stores that have high delivered sales but low counter sales. Not all retailers will benefit. For instance, Fed mem­ber Graeme Pentland, owner of Ashburton Village Store in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, sold his rounds to Newsteam Group last Septem­ber, but data suggests that despite the decrease, Pentland’s news bill remains at the maximum carriage charge rate.

“I’m still paying £69.20 per week in carriage charges,” he told Better Retailing. “This is the same as I was paying before I sold my rounds, despite this resulting in an 80% drop in the volume of papers I’m selling. I challenged my wholesaler, but it said due to the rates, it doesn’t affect my charge. In my opinion, it’s not right.”

Despite the frustra­tion, Pentland said the new guarantees would help protect the pres­ence of newspapers in stores.

“When stores sell their rounds, they have a decision on whether to continue counter sales, this will help ensure that these remain viable for a larger number of retail­ers,” he said.

The Fed highlighted that the good news came from veteran London newsagent Peter Wagg’s first meeting as chair of the Press Distribution Forum, a group tasked with ensuring a fairer news supply chain.